I have "only" run four races now since the first of November. This is very strange for me, and my times have proven that I need to be out there every weekend. Also, my blood sugar doesn't care for it either. But in a way, the break is nice too.
Normally after the last race of the year I can give you my totals for the year, but frankly, I've lost track. It's been such a strange year, very bipolar: great joy and heartache, friends moving forward, and me meandering through the woods like a lost baby wolf, not sure where to go next.
Do I want to make the jump to the marathon next year, or am I content the way I'm going? Or do I need something new altogether?
Until I can come up with some concrete answers, here are a few highlights. The first kind of explains why I'm floundering, because even though I'm not sure what my goals are, I did achieve a highlight.
-Although it was a non-competitive walk for suicide awareness, I decided I was going to go for it and do my best. I started walking with a few volunteers, but they stopped to pet a German Shepard, so I kept moving on. Before I knew it, I was about a block ahead of them. Could it be I was in the lead? Soon I was behind a very tall gentleman, who takes one step to my three. I tried to keep pace with him and fell just short. Then I noticed he didn't take any water at the water stop, then just as I got to the corner of Marathon Park near where my mom grew up, he turned the other direction. He wasn't in the walk at all! I looked back and saw no one. When I made it back to the shelter for the second lap, the volunteers said "holy cow, you're moving there!" I knew unless I totally blew up I'd "win" the whole thing, and when I made it around again they said "here's our winner!" Someone asked, how does it feel to have everyone in back of you? I quoted Gene Kelly from "An American in Paris" and said "I don't know, it's never happened before!" For once, I had the pick of the snack table, and watched everyone ELSE come in.
So while it meant nothing to anyone but me, I finally "won" an event with over 200 walkers, something I've never even managed out of 15. It felt like the peak of the mountain: where do I go from here?
-Another highlight also happened in Marathon Park, where I PR'd in the half for the first time since 2011. What was cool is that my dad was tracking my progress through his amateur radio club. Someone said keep track of 133, and the guy at the halfway point said, what, is she in trouble? Nope, it's KB9ZOF's daughter. So when I got to Camp Phillips the "ham" said "your dad says hi" and I returned with, "tell him I'm doing just fine!" My parents have never been to a race of mine, so that was kind of cool.
-Running in Lake Michigan on New Year's Day was cold but very exhilarating.
-While I have run around Lambeau Field four times, baseball is my sport, so going around the warning track at Miller Park was a great joy. Saw so many different parts of the city as well, like Miller Brewing Company (where all the hops made me woozy!) Also, we each got a Bobblehead in our packets, and I got my hero, Hank Aaron.
-The Madison Half Marathon was the same way: getting to see things I don't see every day, and making peace with some old demons I've wrestled with since 1999.
-My favorite race though, was nothing fancy or exotic, only 35 miles down the road benefiting St. Bronislava in Plover. In fact, I had to walk it after being injured at Miller Park. But for a first year, they did everything right, had all the niceties that make racing special. Cheer groups and porta-johns every two miles! Popcorn at the packet pickup, more spuds than you can shake a stick at. I told the lady at the finish that this was one of the nicest events I've done, period, and she took me over to the race director who gave me a hug. Being appreciated for using your feet to help a charity is one of the nicest feelings, ever.
So that's why I'll be back on the trail next year!
